Lebanon // Current

Arab experts predict Mideast water wars

Experts predict Israel will be first to go to war for control of the Litani River,... more

JanforGore
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2 days ago
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6 comments

Palestinians breach West Bank wall - The Irish Times - Mon, Nov 09, 2009

Activists made a hole in Israel's West Bank wall for the second time in less than a... more

jkw077
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13 days ago
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2 comments

Lebanese to Israel: Hands off our hummus!

The seeds of peace in the middle east.. maybe not.. but a very welcome change from the... more

ksutherland27
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29 days ago
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Lebanon and Israel Battle Over Humus

BEIRUT – Lebanese chefs prepared a massive plate of hummus weighing over two tons... more

tcmfan08
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29 days ago
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Lunch from a Trolley Cart

This is the story of a husband and wife from Lebanon who serve food to Boston... more

lorischmon
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1 month ago
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Lebanon: 'Nature in the city: Blog Action Day 2009'

The environmental health department developed several studies around the impact of war... more

Simba_Russeau
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1 month ago
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Univ. of Buffalo student forces Tony Blair to respond to (and dodge) the Goldstone report

Tony Blair spoke at the University at Buffalo on Wednesday, October 7. As usual, the... more

maasanova
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1 month ago
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2009 New York Film Festival Podcast - reviews of Lebanon, Inferno and Room and a Half

There's some gems at this year's New York Film Festival - check out the linked podcast... more

thefilmtalk
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Lebanon reviewed, or The Crying Donkey Represents War

It is an undeniable fact that Samuel Moaz’ Lebanon is a focused view on the horror of war and the undesirable situations one would find as a solider in conflict. Barely ten minutes into the ham-fisted melodrama, the disorienting nature of P.O.V. and fear are hammered home in such a way that it’s almost hard to believe what you, as the viewer, are privy to.

Then, there’s the crying donkey. As the gun turret (which represents our view and Shmulik, the Gunner’s) wildly scans the aftermath of an air force bombing , the camera stops on a blown apart donkey. The turret zooms in repeatedly, “clicking” each time as it gets closer until finally the only thing in the cross hairs is the donkey’s eye.

And a sole tear slides down.

This is, in effect, everything that cripples Maoz’ film in a single shot. Touted by a few other critics in attendance as “this year’s Waltz with Bashir,” which was at NYFF ‘08, Lebanon follows a Tank crew of green soldiers who are dispatched to clean-up the remnants of a town with a paratrooper squad before moving onward.

While heavily based in Moaz’ own experience as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon war, the film evokes its’ mood in a pitch-perfect sense that everyone is afraid and no one can be turned into a soldier, no matter what kind of artillery they’re given. The sound design, as Steven Boone noted at The House Next Door, is phenomenal and Alex Claude should be lauded with countless awards, medals and tiny gold speakers. Unfortunately, we can’t just focus on that.

Lebanon drowns itself in sentimentality and overwrought statements from a character continually repeating “I have two weeks left in the service” and to “call my mom, so she isn’t worried about me.” He may as well reveal his last name is Red-Shirt. If you want to use the excuse that since this is a war film, it has to be heavy handed–go right ahead. But it’s apalling that this by-the-numbers “war is hell” has received so much critical love for something as asinine as a crying donkey.

Lebanon screens on 10/01/2009 at 9:30pm and on 10/02/2009 at 3pm as a part of New York Film Festival at Alice Tulley Hall.

[Photo Credit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Celluloid Dreams]

-John LichmanIt is an undeniable fact that Samuel Moaz’ Lebanon is a focused view on the horror... more

jlichman
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1 month ago
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We're Watching: the Lebanon trailer

Lebanon, which I’ll be seeing on Wednesday afternoon at the New York Film Festival,... more

jlichman
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2 months ago
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Lebanon, Colin Firth take top Venice honours

Lebanon, directed by Samuel Maoz and set largely inside a tank stranded inside enemy... more

vistapoint
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2 months ago
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Rockets fly back and forth over Israel-Lebanon border

From the NY Times: At least two rockets fired from southern Lebanon hit open areas in... more

afitzgerald
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2 months ago
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8 comments

The true story of Nuclear

The Italian government, completely ignoring the will of the people who voted for the... more

hyperion74
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3 months ago
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4 comments

Waltz with Bashir

It's an animated film in appearance, but in reality it is a rigorous documentary by... more

hyperion74
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3 months ago
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2 comments

Do what ever the hell you please to do!!

Pissed off in Pa! What do you think?

cool0ne
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3 months ago
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2 Men, 1 War, 33 Years on...

Having fought on opposing sides during the brutal Lebanese civil war, two men... more

Tarmak_Films
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11 months ago
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US Green Party Presidential Nominee spent 4th of July in Israeli Prison

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney returned home today after 6 days being held by the government of Israel while attempting with 21 colleagues to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza on the vessel, the Spirit of Humanity.

“Don’t sign Miss Cynthia don’t sign!” So chanted a boisterous group of Palestinian teens and pre-teens in Beirut’s Shatila Refugee Camp demonstrating support for the Freegaza Humanity boat abductees on the 4th of July.

The students understood that those illegally arrested while in International waters had been offered a “get out of Jail Free” pass if they confessed in writing to violating Israel’s territorial waters.

The Spirit of Humanity boat, trying to bring emergency humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, was the topic of a lively discussion during a Sabra Shatila Foundation summer school civics lesson on “International law and the Question of Palestine”. The students were interested in the plight of some of their relatives and countryman in Palestine and the continuing siege of Gaza. Some had just finished their Baccalaureate exams and were wondering how they could continue their education given the severe impediments the government of Lebanon places on Palestinian civil rights, and their post exam relief seemed to energize them for the discussion.

A couple of the students had met Cynthia during her recent visits to Lebanon. When they learned that as a Congresswoman, she had introduced articles of impeachment against Bush, was a consistent anti-war voter during her twelve years in Congress, and that no member in Congress had achieved a more consistent, principled, voting record of issues of civil and human rights, including Palestinian rights, they really connected with the subject of the Freegaza aid boat, the Spirit of Humanity and her travails. “Those supporters of Palestine should not accept a false confession and should stay in Jail if necessary. They are patriots” was a commonly expressed sentiment.

The students understood that in refusing to sign the Israeli government prepared “acknowledgement/confession” the Freegaza group acted consistent with International Law. They learned that territorial waters, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it. They learned from media reports that in any case the Humanity was in International waters and that consequently Israel had no right to molest it.

The class adjourned sharing a general consensus that the Spirit of Humanity, enjoyed and will continue to enjoy on every subsequent humanitarian voyage, these freedoms as well as other internationally lawful uses of the sea within contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones, and on the high seas. Needless to report, were it possible for them, the whole class would like to be on the next Freegaza boat.Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney returned home today after 6 days being held by... more